The 80th anniversary of two significant events
by Don Keelan
It is infrequent when we can commemorate the 80th anniversary of two significant events in American history, separated by only 25 days: the April 12, 1945 death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (less than three months following his fourth inauguration) followed by the May 7, 1945 unconditional surrender of Fascist Germany’s military to General Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Allies in Reims, France.
With Eisenhower signing the surrender agreement, the process commenced to release a major portion (war was still raging in the Pacific against Imperial Japan) of the 16 million men and women who were serving in WWII, the equivalent of 41 million today.
Another aspect of commemorating the historic anniversary is to take stock of what was taking place at the time. In this case, 80 years ago.
The historic events of April and May 1945 have been revealed through accounts in numerous books published in the aftermath of World War II.
Foremost, of course, was the massive task of nation-building in the Far East as well as in war-torn Europe. Resettling refugees, feeding tens of millions, restoring the infrastructure of scores of cities, and redrawing geographic boundaries were herculean tasks.
History has pointed out how diplomatic fatigue had taken hold. Numerous issues still needed to be addressed, but not in 1945. In the subsequent years and decades, we witnessed what happens when long-standing geopolitical issues are left unaddressed.
In the aftermath of WWII, FDR’s successors witnessed the tragedies of the partitioning of India, thus creating West and East Pakistan (Bangladesh). Future chaos would ensue in other geographic areas: North and South Korea, North and South Vietnam, Turkey and Cyprus, Northern Ireland, and the UK. How Palestine was to be governed was about to be revealed, with the results not well received in the Arab world. Independence for European colonies of Sub-Saharan Africa was percolating. The one common denominator: civil war, with its incalculable loss of life and resources.
Instant news, commentaries, the internet, and social media were not the order of the day in 1945. If they were, would history have been recorded differently?
FDR would have been unable to publicly conceal his reluctance to divert the Allied military to intercede and prevent the transportation of millions of Jews to concentration camps.
FDR, with his failing health known only to those close to him while attending the Yalta “Big Three” conference in early February 1945, had to contend with the demands of Marshall Joseph Stalin. Two months later, FDR’s successor, Harry S. Truman, was to discover how deep in the dark he had been kept concerning the concessions given to Stalin.
History can offer a valuable perspective on contemporary issues if we are willing to learn from it. One example would be former President Herbert Hoover’s idea for peace in Palestine that he presented to the press in late 1945, 16 years after the massacre of Jews in Jerusalem and Hebron by Arab extremists.
Hoover’s plan had two goals: to provide for a permanent home for the Jews fleeing Europe, recognizing that which was created by the Balfour Declaration, Israel. At the same time, he knew something had to be done for the displacement of the local Palestinians.
His solution was to acquire 2.8 million acres in Iraq, the Fertile Crescent, and create an agricultural land for the Palestinians to be resettled.
If Hoover’s plan had been accepted and adopted in the 1930s, it would have saved the lives of millions of Jews who would have had a place to resettle.
Presidents Roosevelt and Truman also had aspirations for the US in Greenland, post WWII. The importance of American bases established in Greenland during World War II had to remain. The latter, in 1946, offered to buy the huge island from Denmark for $100 million in gold bars. America would need the island as a strategic defense area in the Cold War, which was about to commence.
There can be a valuable lesson for all of us when we celebrate or commemorate historical anniversaries. Middlebury College historian Connor Williams, in a recent lecture at Middlebury, emphasized an important point: there is a significant difference between memory and history.
The author is a U.S. Marine (retired), CPA, and columnist living in Arlington, VT.